Much of what happens in “When we were younger” happens in language. Orda is a Croatian-Somali-Norwegian firework. The language is a battleground, where firing off a good sentence is a status symbol like airpods and the Gucci belt. Rarely grammatically correct, but still correct. Like a kind of speeda Ivar Aasen, Oliver Lovrenski, born in 2003, collects words from the street and stuffs them into his literary scrap. Before he sprinkles them out in paragraphs, which are just long enough to catch the attention of the TikTok generation. And me! The story of the four young people Ivor, Marco, Jonas and Arjan reminds me that I have been young. Crossroads: lawyer or criminal? It is about the generation we lost during the pandemic. Ivor with parents from Croatia, Marco with a background from Somalia and ethnic Norwegian Jonas have in common that they would rather hang out in Oslo than be at home with their family. Oliver Lovrenski effortlessly alternates between light and dark. Should Ivor become a lawyer or should he become someone who needs a lawyer? These battles between Gut und Böse have followed literature ever since Goethe (Faust), and probably long before that. The title also hints at a development that takes place over the course of the book. At the start, they are in the ninth grade and are younger and more innocent. But gradually they sell so many types of drugs with so many nicknames that I have to look up the glossary at the back of the book to understand what kind of drug it is. But I don’t do that, because that would break the flow. TALENT: The 19-year-old author Oliver Lovrenski turns street language into art, believes literary critic Knut Hoem. Photo: Agnete Brun/Aschehoug Art language from the street What does it actually take to turn this street language into art? How can one make the words vibrate so that what happens explodes out of the concrete situation and becomes something that concerns us all? There is something effortless about how Lovrenski brings out generally interesting truths in concrete situations. There are also all the others in there: Ho høge with the big smile behind the till at Deli Deluca. “… and brother, my heart woke up, you understood, like yo, haaalleluja!”. Fathers who drink and hit. Mothers who are terrified every time their sons go out the door. The good teachers. The tired child welfare workers. Girls who want more cocaine, and girls who want to move up in the world. The decent uncle at the cafe who always has a bit of money left over. Hindsight junkies who don’t want the youth to make the same miserable choices that they themselves made. The whole “village”, which might be able to catch the procrastinating child standing there and teetering on the edge of the subway platform. TOP SCORE: Oliver Lovrenski gets a six on the dice from literary critic Knut Hoem. Photo: Agnete Brun/Aschehoug Debutante of the year While all this is unfolding, I sit and think about who I am in all this. I am a first-generation immigrant to Oslo. Like the father in Zeshan Shakar’s “They call me the wolf” and the mother in Nadia Ansar’s “My shame”, I long for home. They to Pakistan. Me to Bergen. Oliver Lovrenski writes about young people who grew up here. They are the ones who “own” the city. He takes us inside in a story that is told from the inside. The reader, who comes from the outside, gets to share in this ownership for a short while, and sits back and thinks about what it will take to ensure that these young people do not end up on the outside. These are the kinds of questions the novel asks – and to which we must find a solution. But most of all, it is the incredible energy that flows out of this text that I am still sitting with. He has cracked the code. He talks to everyone. Just as he describes it here, it was when we were younger. It’s just a matter of deciding first and last. Oliver Lovrenski is this year’s literary newcomer. news reviewer: Photo: Aschehoug Title: When we were younger Author: Oliver Lovrenski Genre: Novel Age group: Adult Number of pages: 240 Publisher: Aschehoug ISBN: 9788203450112 Hi! I read and review literature in news. Please also read my review of “Kairos” by Jenny Erpenbeck, “Details” by Ia Genberg, or Franz Kafka’s “The Process” translated by Jon Fosse.
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